It's time to go... Jules

No, this isn't Big Brother

I haven't been evicted. I will shortly be heading south, to Melbourne. By choice. It was dependent on a little more than a decision in my head. For those who don't know, I will be commencing my Graduate Ambulance Paramedic position with Ambulance Victoria on Wednesday 25th March. I needed to be successful throughout the selection process that included psychometric testing, panel interview, medical and fitness assessments and referee checks. I had to also successfully complete my undergraduate paramedic degree. All those boxes have been ticked. My recent challenge has been finding accommodation. That has also just been sorted. I’m renting a 1 bedroom flat in Mentone (Bayside).

While I was walking along the Moreton Bay Cycleway last night (Saturday), it occurred to me that I don't have a lot of time left to do what I need to do before I head into the real world. The world where you are not protected and sheltered. The one where you have to be Miss (Ms or Mr) Independent; where you have to work full time and pay taxes; and deal with life's challenges without the parents helping you out (much).

What else occurred to me?

There's some stuff that I'm really going to miss about my intermittent residency at my parents place in Bayside Brisbane. By 'stuff', I mean people and things.

1. My family. Gee that was a no-brainer! And one that requires no further explanation.

2. My cat. I won’t initially be able to take my (almost) 5 year old burmilla (burmese/chinchilla) cat, Mishka with me to Melbourne. It's going to be painful saying goodbye to her. I love her tons. I hope to be able to buy a place in the not-too-distant future OR find a rental place that will allow me to have her indoors.

3. My work. For the past two months I've been a lifeguard at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre. It's been fabulous. I've built some confidence and improved my communication skills. I've also met a bunch of great people - my fellow lifeguards, and some members of the public. A by-product (or benefit) of my casual employment has been staff membership of the gym and aquatic centre. I haven't used the gym much (okay, I’ve gone once!) as I am a member else where, but I've used the pool a bit. I'll miss that for sure.

4. My physio/pilates instructor. Tim has to be Australia's best physiotherapist. Okay, so I could be just a tad biased. He is so committed and his knowledge base is amazing.

5. My gym and my PT, Gavin. How can I get so attached to someone I've only known for err 2 hours (1x 30 min introductory session & 2x 45 min sessions so far)? Easy – I just can. I just did. Gavin is really cool. He’s pushed me heaps and we’ve had fun. I vote that he phrase “I can’t” should be removed from the global vocabulary. If you physically can’t do something now, in time you will, if you want it bad enough… unless you’re talking about something that is physiologically beyond your ability. Anyone can run, anyone can do bench press, anyone can lift heavy things ;) Just how fast and how far you can run and how heavy the things you lift is the question.

6. My friend, Chris. I met Chris through doing pilates with Tim. Chris is about the only friend I have in Brisbane!

7. Moreton Bay Cycleway. I love doing my run/walk sessions along the Esplanade. I use MapMyRun to work out my turn around point so I know how far I’ve run.

Why do we get attached to 'stuff'?

We're emotional creatures, that's why. I don’t think I can do justice to this question so I’ve hand balled it on to my mentor. I’ll let you know if I get a response.


My question for you today is, if you had to move (by choice or need) what would you miss about where you live, and the people and things in your world?

Rules to live by

Forging elite fitness

I came across CrossFit recently via an article from Zen Habits. It made me think that Mikey might already know about it. Him, his whiteboard and his killer circuits! Anyway, the concept resonated well with me. "Forging Elite Fitness" is their catch phrase thingy. I like it.

Principles of living

A little while ago, Craig Harper did a series of about half a dozen posts titled Craig's Principles for Living. Most, if not all, resonated well with me too. One day, I must create my own Principles though, using some of his ones and others.

I found a link on the CrossFit Brisbane site, titled Rules to live by. I really love it.

• Everyday eat, sleep, drink, rest and train according to what your body needs


• Train for the shortest time possible whilst still achieving your training goal
  
• Find people to play with


• Try something new each year


• Do things that harm you less, do things that help you more


• Make a contribution


• Be honest with yourself, your training goals and your performance


• Do something everyday that makes you puff and sweat


• Look after your family and include them in your training


• Never do the same session twice in one week


• Regularly do things that make you nervous


• Find heavy things and lift them


• Above all else, keep moving, and keep trying

It sounds a lot like what Harper teaches too. Stuff Craig says frequently that spring to mind like:

"Instead of doing five swims, five runs or five bike rides every week, do five sessions of something different"

"Do things that challenge you... face your fears... get uncomfortable"

"Be honest (with yourself)"

"Listen to your body... Do I need that or do I just want it?"

Another wake up call

What Craig was talking about today in his post, beyond self-helf; selfless help rang true with me. I need to stop thinking, talking, writing about what I'm going to do. I just got to get the show on the road and start 'performing.' Craig has been telling me this for umm, weeks now. I have read and heard enough to be able to commence working on Project Me. And not just have a half-hearted pissy attempt at creating my-best-life, but give it a real, honest effort. This is not rocket science, brain surgery or even prehospital care. This is just applying basic common sense stuff in order to help myself become a better person. All the talking, thinking and writing in the world ain't gonna turn me into AMAZING. I have to put in consistent effort. I need to look under the bed for those non-negotiables I wrote up 3 months ago (gasps in shock that it's been so long) and live, breathe them like they were oxygen or water - two essentail components to keep us alive.

When enough is enough

Okay, okay, OKAY... I'm hereby making a public commitment that I will have a 'suck it up princess' approach to doing what I need to do every day to 'be the change' in my own world. Craig - see you when I'm 68kg. There is no way I'm going to compromise that agreement that I made with you either. I'm not going to cheat. I've cheated enough. I've had enough extensions, enough chances, enough opportunities... It's time I stepped out onto the playing field and kick some goals in my world.


Soon you'll learn about who and what inspires me to create my-best-life.

Revisiting past success

The Craig and Jane show

I was listenting to The Grandstanders (Craig Harper and Jane O'Brien) on Saturday morning on LightFM. It's amazing that someone like me, in Brisbane, can listen to a Melbourne radio show live online. Craig interviewed Bianca Chatfield - vice captain of the Melbourne Vixens netball team. One thing in particular jumped out at me and, this time, it has kicked me into first gear (again).

The Vixens have recently taken on Craig Harper as their conditioning coach and also to look after all the head stuff. The Vixens formed from two teams - the Melbourne Phoenix and another team that I cannot recall. Bianca said that Melbourne Phoenix had success with Craig in the past, and the team has decided to go back to what they know worked. It triggered me to think about what has worked for me in the past and to ask myself why I wasn't doing that stuff now.

What I thought I'd do is jot down some of my past success stories now for you. Okay, mainly for me. I'm mainly making reference to my body goals here, but also some other general life stuff.

1. Working with a trainer. I'm ashamed to reel out a list of half a dozen or so trainers I've worked with since the mid ninety's. Tash, Kathy (Melbourne) Dean, Mark (Sydney), Karen (Brisbane), Tony (Bathurst)... I had the most success with Kathy. We did 1-2 intense 30 min sessions a week, and I did heaps of cardio in between. It is important to note that having a trainer isn't 100% of the answer. They area resource and a part of your journey. But what you do outside the time you see your trainer is going to make the difference between creating lifelong change and living a life where you continue to sabotage yourself. (So, no swinging by the shops and inhaling a chocolate bar or two after you've worked hard at the gym... yep, I have done that in the past).

2. Keeping a diary. A food diary, but also a diary of my training and associated thoughts and feelings. Actually, just tonight I have been going through a diary of my PT sessions with Kathy and reading about the progress I was making with my strength and body shape has inspired me. I know what is possible for me. I need to get back to that, and then I can explore new, uncharted territory.

3. Training (exercising) early in the day. Call be weird, dysfunctional or just committed and determined... but I have been known to alarm self at the likes of 4 and 5 in the morning to head out the front door for a run, (bike) ride or to go to the pool. However, to make this work, it's imperative that you get an early night so you're getting enough hours sleep. Also, I have found that having something to get up for - be it a swim squad session, a scheduled training session on my program or just something I have made 'non-negotiable' sets me up to have a good day, food wise. Because, why would I want to undo all my hard work by eating crap?

4. Online communities. Being a part of a number of message boards has also helped me a lot in my journey. Interacting with others with similar goals, similar attitudes and people who don't just talk about it, but people who are creating their best body and their best life.

5. Having a mentor. This is a fairly new thing for me, but I'm enjoying the ride so far. It's been tough to hear someone else objectively point out my 'faults' (for the want of a better word), and what I need to work at changing. It's a privilege having someone who clearly does care about me, who wants to see me and do, think, be and create AMAZING in every area of my life. In other words, to create my-best-life. However, I need to apply what I learn to become the person I want to become and to be 'amazing.' Stop the over-thinking, toss out the self-doubts, and get busy Jules. Assignment 1 was due a long time ago. How many extensions do you want? You can't have any more. Choose to do, be, think and create amazing today and you will. Thanks Craig - you're an amazing bloke, teacher, mentor, coach and friend.

I'm interested in hearing what has worked for you in the past. Are you still doing it now? If not, why not? If something has worked for you before, why not get it going again?

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part Four)

The third place getters prize

As I was heading out yesterday after training with Cherie, I tried to tee up a session with Mikey for today. But he couldn’t squeeze me in. Must be a good sign he’s an AMAZING trainer if he has clients 5am-1pm with no break. Impressive! He probably could have done something in the afternoon but I couldn’t. My was flight departing at 3pm (yep, all good things come to an end). “I could write you up a cardio circuit on the white board.” “Yeah, okay. Is that my consolation prize? The wooden spoon prize?” (wooden spoon refers to the AFL team who finishes on the bottom of the ladder at the end of the season). “Let’s say it’s the third place getters prize.” After asking when is good time to come in, he said either 8am or after 10am. I decided I’d go in at 8am, as 10am may be getting a bit late to pack up and get myself to the airport.

Thursday 5 Feb

I rocked up at Harper's (for the fourth consecutive day) at about 8:15am and walked towards the bathroom to dump my gear. I walked out, saw Mikey near the boxing bags and said “you’ve done your homework I see.” There it was, in red, “Jules” and my cardio program for the morning. When Mikey had a minute he explained the ‘rules.’ I was to do 1000m on the rower, then four rounds of this cardio circuit on the whiteboard. I was to time myself each time and write my time up on the board (he even had space for me to write it). I had anticipated that I was going to be doing this alone. So, when Mikey said to Lochy (the new trainee at Harper’s, who 'qualifed on Friday' and had only just moved from country Victoria) “can you take Jules through it” I was like 'cool, I do have a trainer today.' Lochy had literally started at Harper’s the same day I did – on Monday. Mikey had, on Monday, introduced us to each other “this is Jules – our new client extraordinaire, and this is Lochy, our new trainer extraordinaire.” Thanks Mikey. That puts just a teeny weeny bit of pressure on us both to ‘perform’ to live up to that title. I’m up for the challenge. I’m sure Lochy is too. Go us!

Ninety percent

I did the 1000m on the rower in 5:03. Now it was time for Round 1 of the circuit. It was pretty straight forward – do this, that, some of these, then that. I heard him say ‘at 90%’ – referring to perceived level of exertion. So, he wanted Jules to go hard. “At what heart rate?” “Don’t worry about that – just go as hard as you can."

I completed the first round in 5:35. Mikey must have been keeping an eye out, “did you decide to do the back stairs again?” “No" I piped up "Lochy stuffed up.” I was meant to finish off each round with another five shuttle runs but Lochy sent me down the back stairs again! Mikey rubbed out the second set of shuttle runs and wrote in ‘back stairs’on the white board. He saw my time and said “your goal is to do a sub 5-minute round.” This was Tough Love Central Station. Easy Street Station was on another train line. There is no easy way to creating-your-best-body. It’s not going to be always fun, either, but you do what you need to do to create the outcomes you seek in your world.

My time for ‘Round 2’ was 5:06. I almost did a sub-5 minutes. I noted that I struggled more at the end, doing the back stairs. Geez, Harper, did you strategically have your gym on Level 1 so there were real stairs to kill clients? ;) I cracked the 5 minute barrier on Round 3, and did a second sub-5 min round to finish up with. I was happy that I had achieved the goal that Mikey had set for me.

Here is Jules - I 'almost' made her chuck on the carpet

I had a little chat with Mikey after.”I answered your question. I emailed it to Craig and Johnny to forward to you.” [The subject was titled ‘Lessons from the Team at Harper’s 2-5 Feb 2009’]. “Good – I haven’t seen it yet. Is it an essay?” “No, it’s in point form.” I bet he was relieved to hear that! On the bottom of the email I had said “Mikey – you better teach me something before I head home! I’ll add it to the list.” I plucked out something to ‘take away’ from chatting with Johnny, Rona, and Cherie and nearly two dozen things from Craig. And, even though Mikey didn’t exactly train me this morning, he did teach me something. It was something I needed to hear too. I needed to get uncomfortable with my training. Three times a week. The reason why today nearly killed me was that I hadn’t pushed myself at that intensity in a long time. I haven't mentioned yet that I ‘almost’ threw up after that last round? Yep, it's true. I nearly did. I hid in the bathroom for a few minutes ‘just in case.’ Too much info? Sorry! I felt really nauseous. The long slow stuff I’ve been doing [on the bike, in the pool and with my run/walk sessions[ is ‘easy’ and ‘comfortable’ for me. While, yes, it has specific aerobic endurance adaptation benefits, I also need to get uncomfortable. It’s how I will get fitter and stronger, mentally as well as physiologically.

It's about YOU

“Can I do that myself? I don’t need a trainer to push me, do I?” I posed to Mikey. “Of course you can. This is about YOU.” So, thanks Lochy for not running down the back stairs with me, for not doing the shuttle runs and the push ups with me. But I did appreciate the verbal encouragement. Thanks for that. I might not have been so lucky with Mikey who actually said he would have sat on the [white equipment] box at the back of the room while I nearly killed myself. Mikey, you truly are a mini-and-younger-version-of-Craig. Harper had told me on Tuesday that I need to be self-motivated, and not become dependent on any one person indefinitely.

Thanks Team Harper

Well guys, that is it. My time at the Harperdome was up. For now. I’ll return in about 6 weeks (mid March) to take up residence somewhere in the vicinity of Bayside Melbourne and to commence my Graduate Paramedic position with Ambulance Victoria. I fly home to Brisbane this afternoon to Get My Shit Together for my move to Melbourne.

To Craig, Mikey, Johnny, Rona, Cherie, Adam and Lochy: Thanks so much for having me and for the warm welcome. The Harperdome has (literally) been my second home for four days. See you all again soon. You’ve collectively taught me a lot. Thanks. If I choose not to apply any of it and continue living a ‘mediocre’ life then that is my issue. This is about me. My choices. My behaviours. My thinking. Likewise, if I choose to apply all of this stuff and live an AMAZING life, then while that still is about me and something I have created for myself, you guys have been a part of my journey and deserve recognition for that. Where is the ‘I’ in Team? There ain't one.

( ) to all of the Team.

When I got home in Brisbane I wrote another email to Craig and Johnny: ‘Highlights from my week @ Harper’s 2-5 Feb 2009’ in the subject thingy. Learning the hard lessons of life ain’t always going to be fun, but I’m all for having fun along the way. And, I’m also all for helping anyone else along the way too.

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part Three)

Wednesday 4 Feb

A swim and a spin bike session were on my triathlon program for today. However, I was somewhat tired and decided I wouldn’t do the swim session. I had a 1 hour PT session booked with Cherie Horne for 5:30pm.

I arrived at Harper’s with about 10 minutes to get changed and to warm up. I had done about 5 mins on the tready before Cherie walked over to me. I must have looked a bit anxious and scared. “Are you nervous?” she asked. I said I wasn’t. But maybe I was? [Craig says to me “you’re always scared – you got to stop that]

CH: “Have you done any training today?” [I just realised Cherie and Craig have same initials – how quick am I to make that grand observation? Clearly a blonde in my past life. Clearly.]
Jules: “No.”
CH: “Good.”
Jules: “I was going to but I was tired this morning. I thought I’d save my energy for you.”
CH: “Is there anything in particular you want to do tonight?”
Jules: “No. Anything.”
CH: “Have you done any work with a pack before?” [I could see where this was going. Cherie knows that I want to climb Everest one day. Maybe in the year 2020]
Jules: “No, I haven’t.”
CH: “Have you done any work with a weight vest?”
Jules: “No. I’ve seen them, but never used one.”
CH: “We’re going to do some walking on the tready with the weight vest and give you a taste of the training I do. Sound good?”
Jules: “Yep.”

So, on goes the weight vest and I started doing some walking on tready with a minor incline. Then I did some sets of the front stairs. Walking down in single steps, and walking up in two’s. But we had some equipment malfunction issues. The zip had come undone. It wasn’t sitting right on me either. It was too big. And Cherie said it was old. [Harper – you lose another mark for old equipment. You’re down to 8/10 now. You lost one mark on Monday for your aging fleet of spin bikes!] I took the vest off and Cherie tried to fix the aging zip. Meanwhile, she sent me doing more front stairs sets. Running down, then walking up in two’s. She fixed the zip, I put it back on and we went back on the tready and Cherie had me walking at a slower pace but with an increased incline. I (stupidly) asked ‘what does it [the incline] go up to?’ ‘I don’t know’ was the reply. ‘Shall we try it?’ Cherie! You liar. You knew all along, cheeky Mountain Girl.

With a HR (heart rate) of about 160 bpm and a 7kg weight vest on, Mikey (Craig’s business partner and one of the many trainers), was on a treadmill doing some training of his own. He strategically decides to ask me: “So what have you learnt this week that you can take away?” I should have said “Not now, Mikey.” I forget what my response was. Probably just “Can I tell you later?” Cherie advocated for me saying “hey, her ticker [heart] is working hard over here.” I think by this point I was doing the highest incline of ‘12’ (?%) so I was working hard. I’ll return to this question of Mikey’s a little later.

After the weight vest stuff we did some stepper, arm grinder (1 minute of each and then repeating that). Cherie and I headed over to the mats near the boxing ring and Harper was hurting himself on various weight machines. He glanced over at me, a massive smirk all over his dial: “No comment today. What’s going on?” he said to me (referring to his web site/blog). “Having a day off” I replied. The topic of the post today was ‘trapped in the past.’ I recognised from this post, and from the mentoring session with Craig yesterday that I need to stop living in my past, that I need to wake up and live in the now – February, 2009. I don’t need to continue doing what I did yesterday, last week and a decade ago. I can create different in my world TODAY. All it takes is a decision. I need to think less, talk (and type) less and do more. I need to APPLY what Craig writes, not just read it and comment on it in my cheeky manner. I therefore made a conscious decision to take a step back and do stuff before I write too much more on Craig’s site. Hence, commenting on the RYL blog was off limits. I lasted about five consecutive posts ;) Although I cheated. While I wasn't commenting on the current posts, I had found some old ones and I was commenting on those (sure, girls are cool... but I so don't wanna be one, sitting at life's train station, just another life) and I revisited the over-thinker from a few months back.

We did some plyometric sit up thingy where we locked our feet together at the ankles and threw a medicine ball to each other. Shit, they’re hard, but I liked it. We did some military push ups (though the Jules-version does not count as a proper one as I don't drop my chest to the floor low enough), some (push ups) on my knees, then back to the plyometric-medicine ball-sit ups, push ups (think we did three sets of each). Then we both did some step ups on a platform step near the boxing ring. Some dumbbell bicep curls alternating with dumbbell hammer. We did a few sets of each of those. Time was running out by this time. Cherie had all this stuff she wanted to do, but there was no way we’d get through it all. I piped up and asked if we can we do some bench press. So we did some incline smith machine bench press using bar weight only and we alternated that with V pulldowns (like lat pulldown but with the 'v' attachment thingy). We finished with a team work game/exercise. Picture a boxing bag on the floor. In a push up position (but with legs out wide) and hands on the bag, both of us (attempted to) roll it. The bag wasn't symmetrical so it didn’t exactly rotate evenly. That was the challenge and why you required good abdominal control and why you needed to work together. I was physically fatigued, clearly, by this stage – notably my upper body and abs. It was funny though and embarrassing too (Cherie suspected it may be)! I kept ‘losing it’ and falling on my face. We didn’t quite get to the ‘line’ on the carpet that we were aiming for. My time was up after that. Awww! Why can’t there be 90 minutes in the hour instead of only 60! I did 5 minutes on the tready after that, then 25 mins on the spin bike, some stretching and then I called it a day.

At some point in my hour with Cherie, Craig was at the cable machine trying to look like he was exerting some effort and challenging his muscles in a round about kind of way and he said to me “look at this”, pointing to his biceps. “I get to see the real thing.” “Yep, they’re real.” (He had a singlet top on, so I really could see).


Today was about seeing what was possible, for me, physically, mentally. Here was Cherie, only a couple of centimetres taller than me, and she is one super-fit, super-strong chick doing AMAZING things – just check out her site to see what she’s done and what she will be doing over the next year or two.

Returning to that question of Mikey’s. What have I learned? Last night, after my session with Craig, I had jotted down some stuff. But when I got home tonight, I added to that list of stuff. I soon had a list of twenty five (25) things. About me. Though some of it wasn’t exclusive to me. It could be easily applied to anyone. But yes, here were 25 things about me. Shit. Does that make me weird? Dysfunctional? Did I just get crowned Miss Universe at the Inaugural Dysfunctional Pageant? I am where I am as a result of choices I’ve made, about my behaviours, about my habits and my thinking patterns. The good news? Here were 25 things that I have the control to change. It should excite me. It did.

Consider an elite athlete. Take the examples of a swimmer and a Tour de France cyclist. For swimmers, we’re talking hundredths of a second between doing a new personal best, between breaking a World Record and between first and second placing. For the gruelling three week Tour de France riders, we’re talking maybe a couple of minutes between finishing with the Yellow Jersey and being the runner up of the General Classification division. However, consider the massive improvement that a mediocre athlete, like myself, can make? I walked the majority of the 2007 Gold Coast Marathon (42.195 km) in 7:04. So, a 5:30 marathon, a 4:00 marathon is clearly within my realm of possibilities. I anticipate I will complete my debut Ironman Triathlon in 15:30. In two or three years I could be doing 12 or 13 hour Ironman’s just by doing the ‘right’ training, and by dropping the 15 kg that I need to lose to get to my optimal racing weight.

My four-part series on my week at Tough Love Central Station (a.k.a Harper’s Personal Training) will conclude with a cardio circuit that Mikey writes up for me on the white board and a lil chat afterwards with the mini-and-younger-version-of-Craig.

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part Two)

When I was planning my Melbourne trip I had asked Craig if it would be possible to meet for a face-to-face mentoring session. I suggested that, if we do, that I prepare a 5-10 minute talk for him as a way of me facing my fears of public speaking, of getting uncomfortable in a supportive setting (I didn't think Craig would be someone who bites) and overcoming my shyness. He pencilled me in for 4:30 at Harper's on Tuesday 3 Feb.

Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't commence working on my talk until errrr the night before we were meeting. "Jules!" My 'issues' are like a chain locked to a fence with me tangled up in it all. My over-thinking, procrastinating and wanting to be perfect are all linked. Very closely.

The topic I chose to talk about isn't important. Not for anyone else other than me.

Tuesday 3 Feb

I was excited for what today held for me. It didn't take me long to realise I was quite sore. (Thanks Rona!) At least that is indicative that my muscles had been sufficiently challenged? I did a bit more 'last minute' work on my talk then headed out the door for a run/walk around Caulfield Park. For two hours (nearly). 1:45 it was. With preparations for my talk still not finished, I felt like I was procrastinating (again) by spending so much time running. I finally finished my talk at about midday'ish. I needed to be at Harper's by 2pm.

A 'lil bit of food education

At 2:00 PM I had a consultation with Adam – Craig's resident food bloke. I wanted some help with my diet – specifically relating to my training: what should I be eating during my long bike rides, should I be inhaling sugar-drinks during my sessions. That kind of thing. We discussed my history, my current eating habits, my likes, dislikes. Adam later emailed me some guidelines and some info about nutrition and hydration in sport. Thanks Adam.

I had some time to 'kill.' Over 1 ½ hours of it. Not sure where all that time went but I jumped on a tready for 10 minutes and then did 30 minutes on the spin bike. Then, I jumped in the shower.

The time was now 4:30 PM

Rule #1. Don't keep the big bloke waiting.

I walked out of the bathroom, looked up at the clock, and smack bang on the dot of 4:30 it was. 'Where did that 20 mins go?' I filled up my 1.25L Super Pump water bottle and then walked towards Johnny's office. I could see [Craig] Harper standing in the doorway, with army shorts on. 'Was I late or was he early?' I thought ;) A big grin was all over his face when he saw me. [What was with all of that?] We head into the lecture room. "Pull up a chair or two or three." Why would I need three, the over-thinker contemplated. I only have one butt, don't I? ;)

CH: "So what are we doing? Do you have anything for me? Do you have questions?"
Jules: "Yep. I have something for you."
CH: "Does it involve food?"
Jules: "No. It involves my computer"
CH: "Aww" (sounding a teeny weeny bit disappointed)
Jules: [after hunting around the room, looking for a mains power supply in the wall] "Do you have power?"
CH: "No. This bit was built after [the main gym floor]."
Jules: "We can do it without my laptop, but it wont have same effect."
CH: "Let's do it without."

I kicked and I squirmed. I wanted to do my presentation with the audiovisual (not that there was any audio, and not even a single image in my nine slide powerpoint show!). "It might run off battery for 10 mins" I said. It didn't even power up. I clearly couldn't have closed it down properly before I ran out the door this arvo. Oops.

We head over to Craig's office. Locked. And he had no key. So Johnny had to run down somewhere to get the key. "Thanks John" Craig beamed. Must admit all of this grinning was contagious. I kept giggling in between trying to answer a few questions he fired at me. "How are you? How's everything going? What's going on?"

Time to face my fear(s)

Jules: "I'm ready to roll now."
CH: "About time."
Jules: "Hi Craig" was my grandeur introduction
CH: "Hi Jules" was the response from my 'rent-a-crowd'!

And then, I launch into it. My talk. My presentation.

It went down well. I got some grins and a few giggles out of him throughout and a "that was good" when I came to the end.

"How did you think you went?" [I like this. Ask-me-what-I-think before you tell-me-what-you-thought] I said that I really thought I was going to be more nervous and scared than I was. "Well yes, I'm kinda scary." "Noooo, I didn't mean that you made me nervous, anxious and scared. This was about me." I said that it didn't feel too good reading word-for-word from my notes. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I have made more eye contact and just talked, instead of read my notes. As for my pissy anxious-scaredy cat voice? That needs to change.

His feedback? I got some really good stuff that I could take away and learn from. I got a 6/10 "considering everything" (read into that as you will, but I think it referred to my under-preparedness secondary to my procrastination and my well, lack of public speaking skills). To be honest I was expecting a 1/10. One mark for 'trying.' For not crying. For not shaking. For not walking out of the room. I sure stumbled on my own words. A lot.

This was a mentoring session?

Then the 'mentoring' started. One after the other, Craig reeled out a whole heap of stuff. About me. I was amazed by how 'well' he knew me.

After 30 years of being a trainer/exercise scientist and a 'life renovator' I guess you have heard it all (almost?). Same issues, different person, different environment. Each time he pointed something out to me, all I could do was nod and agree. He was right. With everything. "You don't wanna hear the truth, but you need to" rang in my ears.

I now had one of two choices. I could take away all this stuff and apply-it-and-change… OR… I could continue doing what I did yesterday and the day before and a decade ago.

CH: "So what have you learnt today?"

I reeled off about five key things from what he had said.

CH: "Yep. Good." And he added one that I left off.

My head was spinning. When I got home I flaked on the couch. I was mentally fatigued. In a good way. Thanks, Craig. Thanks tons ( )

Join me for part three where I have the pleasure of training with Mountain Girl – the lovely Cherie Horne, and a question from Mikey triggers more reflection on today's session with Craig.

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part One)

Jules goes to Melbourne

The purpose of this five day visit to Melbourne was to try on the full uniform kit for my new job as a Graduate Ambulance Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria and to find a place that I could call home. Or that was the official purpose. The unofficial purpose? To do some (or lots of) training at Harper's. One may argue that it was really all about Harper's.

Here is a report on my time in Melbourne. Since I can't write a brief version of anything I've decided to be a Craig-copy-cat and break this post into four parts.

Sunday 1 Feb

I flew into Tullamarine (Melbourne) airport at 10:20 AM and slowly made my way to my friend's place in Caulfield North via the Airport Sky Bus, a train to Flinder's St Stn and then the No. 64 tram.

At 3:00 PM I met up with a bloke named Pat who I was possibly going to move in with if we mutually agreed we could live together after half an hour! We must have decided we could as it's all happening. I love the apartment - it's a year old and still so nice and new. Why settle for 'mediocre' when you can have something 'amazing' (without being over-the-top)?

Monday 2 Feb

At 9:45 AM I set my eyes on the one-and-only Harperdome on Nepean Highway, Brighton East. Having not slept very well, I was (silently) hoping for a miracle boost of energy when I arrived here this morning. I walked up the stairs and expected to see a reception desk. There wasn't one. I kept walking and found the Baldman in his office. Not feeling sure he would remember me from RYL Sydney (Oct 26, 2008), I said 'Johnny, it's Jules' (did you know it was me, Johnny?). We had a bit of a chat and he introduced me to Michael who I knew from Craig's site as 'Mikey.' 'You're still alive after the beer fueled marathon, I see?' He told me he was looking for a new challenge. He didn't seem all that fussed over my idea of him doing an Ironman Triathlon. "Too much training." Johnny pointed out Rona to me, who was close to drowning in her own sweat on the StairMaster. After she was done, we shared a welcome-to-Harper's hug, complete with sweat! Nice. Thanks, Rona. First lesson: Harper's is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted, the precious and certainly not for the sweatophobic (I made that up - someone with a fear of sweat). My debut PT session here at Harper's would be with Rona, in 45 mins at 10:30. Yes, I know, I was eary. Very early. I like being early. (I used to play the clarinet and one of my orchestra conductors said to us: "If you're on time, you're late." Think about that. So, if you're 'early' that means you must be on time; if you're 'late', you're mega late! Are you confused yet?) The Baldman printed some stuff for me. I signed my life away, basically. Rona took my BP (it was a little high - I was anxious? Excited? In a new environment. I hadn't slept too well), HR 58bpm. I finished off the paperwork and then changed into my workout gear. I was ready to rock and roll. I had found that boost of energy. Must have been the AMAZING atmosphere at the Harperdome. What else could it have been? Okay, so it may have come within me.

As all good PT clients do (I'm by no means new to personal training), I jumped on a treadmill (scheadmill) and did a 10 min run @ 8 km/hr to warm up. Okay, so it ws a slow jog.

Jules' debut Harperdome PT session - with Rona

My session with Rona was for 1 hour. It was primarily an assessment to get an idea of where I was at with stuff. I hadn't done much strength training stuff for a while - yeah okay, I had done zero. I was fully into my triathlon training. 100% cardio, in other words. She wanted to see how I did pushups (I did the chick version, on my knees, but my chest had to touch a wobbly disk each time). Specifically, how many could Jules do in a minute? I started pumping them out easily but then slowed considerably. But I didn't stop to pause. I was happy with that. We did some lunges on the cable machine thingy, and some where I had to balance on one leg. That was tough. I did dynamic lunges where I stepped forward with alternate legs across the room, and then the same thing but holding a medicine ball. We also did some dumbbell bicep curls, tricep pushdowns and dumbbell shoulder press. On the cardio side of things, she had me doing shuttle runs, and straddle runs (is that what it's called?), and 2km on the upright bike. We finished off with some core stability stuff. You meanie - after all my lil muscles are fatigued?

I was in for another treat. As if meeting the Baldman (again), Mikey and Rona wasn't quite enough, I met Mountain Girl (Cherie Horne). I was actually lying on the mats when Cherie came over to say hi to Rona. Rona she said 'Cherie, this is Jules.' Cherie said 'The Jules?' I had been in email contact with her and had mentioned I was keen on doing a session or two with her this week.

I jumped on a spin bike and rolled my legs over for 1/2 hour, then did a run-off-the-bike on the tready for 10 mins, then a cool-down walk for 10 mins.

The double dare

On Australia Day (Jan 25) Craig Harper did a four-hour segment on SEN ('Melbourne's home of sport' - a radio station). Craig invited any of us grasshoppers to phone the radio station for a live-to-air chat. Long story cut short, Craig dared Michelle to ring in, and stupidly (in the theme of an old kids quiz show called Double Dare) I double dared her and 'threatened' that Craig and I would collectively come up with a 'physical challenge' for her to do at RYL in May had she not called up. I offered two prizes: a king size cherry ripe (her favourite chocolate bar) OR a 30 min PT session at Harper's. It all worked out amazingly as I wanted to meet Michelle but there were logistical issues. I had limited time and she worked (although I knew she had Monday's off). Brain wave: get her to come to Harper's! Fabulous, Jules, fabulous.

Michelle has her first PT session (ever)

I booked in Chelle to train with Rona after me. Mine was at 10:30, and hers at 11:30. Chelle 'enjoyed' her session with Rona, and got a lot out of it. I was delighted. Rona gave Chelle some stuff she could do at home and told her to buy a swiss ball, which she actioned straight away (there's a fitness equipment shop downstairs from Harperdome). Well done Chelle - good work. No procrastinating for you. Impressive. When you out-grow those exercises Rona gave you, let me know. We'll organise a repeat dose of the above (maybe).

Cherie, Chelle and I had a great chat after we were all done. Thanks Cherie (again) for taking the time to chat with us. We set up a time to train at 5:30 PM Tues (which we later changed to 5:30 PM Wed).

Chelle and Jules sit down to eat a farm animal

Chelle and I had lunch afterwards. I, personally, was starving and felt I could easily inhale not just one farm animal, but two. We found a cafe on Centre Rd and sat outside to a yummy toasted roast chicken on turkish bread. [Shut up, Craig - I know that probably wasn't the best choice of bread but gee it was good] And how cool are those plates? Never seen anything like it. I want a set like that. I wonder where the owner got them from? Might have to go back and ask! The cafe staff were great. (We even mentioned the topics of your talk-back radio show that Chelle and I rang in about. We were talking about the sausage roll-in a bread roll thing, and one of them said 'and the twistie roll.' It was funny as you had some callers ring in with that too). Was lovely meeting you Chelle. Keep doing what you need to do. Special thanks goes to one of the cafe staff who took this pic of Chelle and I.

Jules' debut swim at MSAC

As if an hour with Rona at the Harperdome plus another 50 mins cardio wasn't quite enough, at about 6:00 PM I headed out the door of my friend's place and jumped on a tram. The wrong tram. Again. The journey to Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre that should have taken 45 mins or so took more like 2 hours. Call me blonde. Call me uneducated. Call me whatever you like. I did my scheduled 3.2 km swim and was among the last three patrons out the door when they closed at 10:00 PM. Yes, it's really true - the journey to MSAC took longer than my actual swim session toook.

So that was the entree - my first taste of things to come for me at Harper's. Come back tomorrow for part two where I talk about some big lessons that I learned from the 90 kilo bloke with short hair and big biceps.